Hula Hooping Hot Shot

Sonya gets a twenty minute recess everyday during school. She gets to eat her snack, and play on a little playground they have just for the kindergartners. There are a few hula hoops for the kids to play with as well. Evidently, her friend Gwen has been teaching her and the other girls how to hula hoop, and she talks about it from time to time. Last week she started really talking herself up about how great she was doing with it. Andy told her next time he was home he wanted to see it.

Friday night he came home from work and the girls were still up. He remembered about the hula hooping and told Sonya to show us how much she knew. She grabbed her hula hoop and did her best to keep the ring around her, but it fell to the ground after a very short period of time. She kept trying and she did manage to keep it going here and there but not for very long. Andy got up to try to show her how to do it, but as it turns out he wasn't much better than she was. So I got up and said,

"Let MOMMY show you how to do it."

Now I'm not here to brag, because there are not a whole lot of things that I'm great at in the physical activity/coordination department. I was never an athlete in high school, and always did horrible in gym class when we would have volleyball and softball. I was a cheerleader, but even in doing that, it would take me a few tries more than others to get the routines down. However, for some reason when it comes to the Hula Hoop, I do happen to be pretty damn good.

I stood up and held the hoop around me then swung that thing around my hips, and kept it going until I decided to stop. Then I attempted to give Sonya few tips to keep it going around her bitty hips for more than four seconds. She tried a few more times and seemed to do better, but it will still take some practice on her part to get it.

Lana had been sitting watching us the whole time and then decided she wanted to get in on the action.

"I want a turn!" She yelled, when I was trying to teach Sonya.

"Okay, Lana. Come on," I said.

She hopped off the couch and picked up the hula hoop. She held it, like I had shown Sonya, with her arms holding up the hoop on either side of her body and against her back. She kind of swayed side to side still holding it, reluctant to let go. Then she stopped, looked over at Andy and said,

"I don't know how to do this."

We all giggled at her and then Andy said back to her,

"I like you're honesty, Lana."

I tried to swing the hula hoop around her, but she really didn't have any idea what she was doing, and it fell to the ground. Lana decided she didn't need to try it again, and climbed back on the couch to watch the expert.

My girls can throw a baseball better than I can, so it helps for me to be better than them at something in the physical activity department. Maybe at some point the girls (and Andy) will figure out how to keep the hoop up, but for now I'll keep my, "best hula hooper in the the Dadekian household" title.

Know-It-All

This was heard last night in Georgia's room, after the girls took a bath:

Sonya- Reading the box that holds little books with each letter of the alphabet, "Aaallff...hey they spelled this wrong."

Me-"What? No they didn't."

Sonya- "Uh-huh. It's supposed to be 'aow', not 'a L'! Aowfabet!"

Me-"No Sonya, it's 'aLfa' not 'aOWfa'."

Sonya-"No it's not, they're wrong. They did it wrong."

Me-"Fine, they did it wrong, you win, it's 'ow' the people who make the books have NO idea how to spell 'alphabet'."

Silence.

Sonya-"Really? It's 'aL'? Are you SUUURE?"

Seriously? She already thinks she know more than me at five? I knew karma would come back to me for being bitchy-I-know-more-than-my-parents teenage years, but isn't this a TAD early?

Raising A Little Lady

For about a week now, I've noticed a new skill Georgia has acquired. Spitting. Nice, I know. Luckily most of the time she does it in the toilet, but sometimes she tries to do it on the ground. For the most part, nothing really comes out of her mouth, but every once in a while she does manage to actually spit. Usually, she does it after a little coughing fit. She's had a cough for a week and a half now, and it seems to be going away. However, sometimes when she does cough, she will walk over to the toilet and try to spit into it. I figure she learned this from Andy, who had a cough a couple weeks ago himself. He'll usually spit in the sink or toilet at the end of his own coughing jag, like I'm sure all of us do when we're sick. At some point she must have observed this and took note. When I catch her doing it I try to discourage her, but at least if it's in the toilet it's a little better. Plus she was only doing it at home. Then she coughed when we were out in PUBLIC. Yay.

Monday was a beautiful day here in Los Angeles. You know, 60's, sunny, breezy, clear. Just fantastic. (Sorry to all of you still buried under a mound of snow, braving the below freezing temperatures. If it makes you feel any better it's cloudy and rainy today.) I felt like we needed to take advantage of such a inspiring day, because all too soon it'll be 90 and smoggy, or smokey, or both. So off we went to the zoo. We have a family pass which is good, because we can go for an hour if we want to. Although with that zoo it takes you an hour just to get all the way in and out of it. This was one of those days we weren't there for very long, because we got there late in the day. No big deal. We saw the giraffes, so they were satisfied.

We were walking out of the zoo, and they were all running ahead of me. Usually, Georgia sits in the stroller and sometimes Lana. That day I decided I'd let them both run around to get as much energy out as possible. Georgia has only been walking a couple months so she still looks like drunk midget, I'm sorry-little person-when she tries to walk too fast or run. She's still very likely to take a spill or two if her little legs won't keep up with her, but she looks so damn cute! Luckily the zoo wasn't crowded at all, so it was no problem letting them all run around while keeping them in my sight.

A few people were smiling at Georgia and how adorable she looked trying hard to catch up with her sisters. Then, she started to cough. I didn't think anything of it at first until the cough ended, she stopped walking, placed her hands on the ground in front of her and spit directly on the pavement. Then she stood up looked at me and said,

"Mommy! I SIT!"

The people who had been watching her, started to laugh now and looked over at me. I was a bit embarrassed, but what could I do? So I just said,

"Well, that's not very ladylike Georgia. No spitting."

She didn't really care, and continued her out of control run to catch up with her sisters. I just smiled at the observers and shrugged my shoulders. Oh well, at least I'll never see them again, and they now have a story about the 19 month old with bad manners. Then again, maybe she's just practicing to be a famous baseball player too.

Sleeping In

There's been a new trend happening in our house the past couple weekends, and I have to say it's FAB-U-LOUS! The girls have been waking up a bit early on the weekends, meaning anywhere between 6:30-6:45am. That's not the good part, but BUT! they have been entertaining themselves! Sonya will take Lana, go into Georgia's room, and read stories to both of them for up to a whole HALF HOUR! That's an extra half hour that Andy and I can sleep. Or at least lie in bed and pretend to sleep, while listening to them. Sometimes it's quite amusing, like last weekend.

Last Sunday was Valentine's Day, as many of you know, even if you were trying hard to forget. For Andy and I, Valentine's Day isn't really a big deal, but we do get a little something for the girls and we get each other cards. Sometime early Sunday morning, Sonya decided she needed to give us something. I woke up to her searching in her art supply closet, which is in the linen closet in the hallway. When I heard her, I sat up in bed, and asked what she was doing.

"I can't tell you! It's a SURPRISE!" She said.

Okay, then. I just laid back down and pretended like nothing was happening. Then I realized she was being a bit loud and told her to close Georgia's door, since she was still sleeping. It was only 6:35 after all, and no sense in waking up the one kid I would have to get out bed for. She did as she was told, and went back to rummaging through the closet. At this point Lana woke up and came out to see what was going on. Sonya told her she was looking for something to make us for Valentine's Day. Lana wanted to help, and Sonya was more than willing to put her to work.

Since it was early, it was still a bit dark in the hallway. We have a light in the hallway that will pop on when it detects motion. I only put it on this way at night, since I'm up 25 times with one or all of the girls. It's partially so I can see when I'm stumbling to their rooms at 3am, and partially because I'm not fond of the pitch black dark in general. Because Sonya was standing and looking in the closet, the light would go off once she wasn't moving for a few seconds then she couldn't see as well. She doesn't know how to turn the light so it just stays in the "on" position. While I could have gotten out of bed and helped with this, I was so comfy, and besides what happened next was much more amusing.

Sonya and Lana would stand in front of the closet looking for whatever it was they were looking for, and then the light would go off. Then Sonya would send Lana to run down the hallway to trigger the motion sensor. She'd run back to the closet, then the light would go off after 10 seconds. Lana would again run down the hallway, her little feet stomping with purpose, then back to the closet when the light would pop back on. Closet, off, run, closet, off, run. This must have happened at least a dozen or so times; all the while Andy and I just laid in bed, eyes closed listening, silently giggling to ourselves.

Finally, I felt kinda bad and got up to help them with what they were looking for. I got the art case they wanted out of the closet and put it in the living room. Then Sonya told me to leave them alone. No problem! I went back to bed. After all how much trouble could they get in with art supplies, like glue, markers and crayons? Okay, they're all washable, so worst case scenario I clean up a mess later. Totally worth it for extra sleep.

As it turns out, Sonya can not only be trusted with those supplies, but she is also an incredibly sweet girl. About 25 minutes later, when the clock let us know it was a better hour for waking up, she and Lana ran into our room yelling,

"HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!"

They had made cards for both of us and little clay sculptures of roses and a butterfly. They were quite good too, I must say. See for yourself below.

So now that they will get up on the weekends and entertain themselves for a bit, all I need to do is train them to cook up some bacon and eggs and serve them to us in bed.

See, I KNEW having kids would come in handy some day!

The Baby Boom Decade

Today is an important day in my life and the life of this blog. Without it, I wouldn't be here. Today is my mom's 59th birthday. The original mom who didn't get to poop in peace for 25 years. I know you're probably wondering, why so long? Well, because my youngest sister is seven years younger than I am, and because even as teenagers mom didn't get to poop in peace. For some reason we thought it was okay to go and have chats with mom, while she did her business. I know I just grossed half of you out, while the other half of you totally know what I'm saying. I guess we thought this was okay, because we'd been hanging out in the bathroom with her since we were born, much like my girls have with me. I can assure you, I would NEVER do this now.

Originally, I planned on making this post about how I learned about being a great mom, from my mom, but then I thought, "then what will I write about on Mother's Day?" So instead, I thought I'd help my mom look back on the past decade of her life, as she heads into the last year of her 50s.

When my mom started her 50s, my sisters and I weren't married and there were no grand kids. Which was good, since none of us were married, but bad because she REALLY wanted grand kids. We all knew it. The mailman knew it. I'm pretty sure my mom wanted grand kids since my father had his vasectomy after Megan was born. Since I'm the oldest, and was only seven at the time, this meant a bit of a wait for her. Especially if she didn't want pregnant teenagers. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say she didn't. However, the moment I graduated from college she was ready for my wedding and baby. Me on the other hand, not so much. So, she would have to wait a bit longer.

The day before her 49th birthday, Andy and I got engaged and it was game on for her. She waited until after we were married, before she started dropping the baby hints, but not much after. Beth was married the year after I was. I seem to recall a story of my mom hinting to Beth while trying on wedding dresses, that it would still fit, even if she was a little pregnant. She wasn't, but my mom was chomping at the bit. I think she thought her chances were better with Beth having a baby first since I live out in Los Angeles, where people wait until they're 48 to have babies. Fortunately for her, I wasn't willing to wait that long.

In the past nine years my mom has been able to help plan and attend her three daughter's weddings. I believe she cried the most at mine, since I was the first, but she definitely had the most martinis at Megan's. She is the baby after all. But more importantly for her, she now has six, soon to be eight, grandchildren. Both my sisters are pregnant again and I am not, thankfully! I've done my part to help with my mom's grandchildren quota and consider myself done and permanently in the will.

Unfortunately, none of us live that close to our parents, so she doesn't get to see them all as much as she'd like, but we all do what we can. Plus, with the video cameras on computers and sites like Skype, it's made it easier for her to at least see her grand kids on a regular basis. I certainly wish we all lived closer. My mom is a great Nona, and the girls love her. Not to mention her cooking and cleaning skills when she comes to visit! I would love for my parents to drop by for a weekend to see the girls without the hassle of airplanes. It would be nice for us to go visit them more easily too. Sadly that is just not the way life is right now. Maybe someday. Since her 50s seemed to be about getting the grandchildren, maybe her 60s can be about getting them closer to Florida. Concentrate on that mom. Your grand baby vibes seemed to work pretty well.

Hope you have a fabulous birthday mommy! I love you and miss you!

He Built This City

A couple months ago, the city of Burbank erected (hehe!) a statue of Mr. David Burbank, across from the Costco we drive by quite frequently. He is the man who founded this fine city my family and I now inhabit. One day early last week while driving by Sonya asked,

"Hey mom what is that?"

"That's a statue of Mr. Burbank. He's the man who... ummm found Burbank, so they named the city after him," I explained hoping that was the easiest explanation for a five year old. It must have been, because she didn't ask anymore questions about it at that point. I'm pretty sure in her head this guy just came upon the city as it is now, and decided to name it after himself. I figured her fifth grade Social Studies teacher can give her the longer explanation.

A few days after that first question we drove by the statue again. This time Sonya asked me,

"Mom, is that Mr. Burbank guy dead?" I'm not sure how all of a sudden we got so morose, but I've heard a few other friends telling me that their kids are inquiring about death around this age.

I just said,"Yeah, I'm pretty sure, Sonya. He lived a while ago, I think."

She was quiet for a minute and then said, "Well, it's a good thing he found Burbank before he died!"

This caught me off guard and I laughed completely out loud. She didn't understand why what she said that was so funny. I told her she was cute and it WAS a good thing he found this city.

Good thing indeed, because without him, we'd be living in North Hollywood.

Daddy Discipline

As most of you know I stay at home with the girls, making me the primary disciplinary. When you are the person who always doles out the punishments, who your kids see get angry on a daily, or some days, hourly basis, they start to not take you so seriously anymore. However, the one who isn't around all that often, the one who gets the red carpet rolled out when he comes home from work, when HE gets mad or hands out punishment, the earth stops spinning on it's axis. Sometimes this is helpful, sometimes it's just annoying. I mean he does the same thing I do and they'll respond more quickly to him. This was the case one morning last week.

We have a big potted plant in our bedroom. You know the kind, where the dirt is easily accessible for little hands to dig in. Sonya and Lana never bothered with it, but Georgia seems to be fascinated. One day a few weeks ago I was showering and she and Lana were in my room watching Curious George. Well, Lana was watching it anyway. G was busy taking handfuls of dirt from the plan and dropping them all over my room. I do mean all over. I found the piles on the floor, the nightstand, the entertainment unit, my aerobic step, anywhere she felt like it. I discovered it when I got out of the shower and spent a good fifteen minutes searching for dirt piles and vacuuming them up. So now I keep a more watchful eye on her when she's in our room, to make sure she doesn't go for the plant. Most of the time she'll leave it alone, but sometimes it just calls out to her.

One morning last week Andy was getting ready for work and I was making our bed. Sonya was off at school, and GG and Lana were in our room playing. The plant must have been too much to resist that day, because I watched as Georgia waddled over to it and started to dig her hands in the soil. As she did, she turned to look at me with a smile on her face that said, "look what I'm dooooiinnnggg."

"Nooooo Georgia. Don't do that," I said to her. She continued to dig, all the while with the shit eating grin on her face and staring directly at me.

"Georgia! NO!" I said more forceful this time.

At this point, Andy came out of the bathroom to see what was going on. Georgia had grabbed a handful of dirt and was starting to take steps away from the plant. Andy just looked at her disapprovingly and she stopped in her tracks. She looked at him with the same smile and he said to her gently, but forcefully,

"No Georgia. Go put that back."

She stood there for about five seconds, looked over at me, looked at Andy, and looked at the dirt in her hands. Then she turned around waddled back over to the plant, dropped the dirt back in, brushed her hands off, and ran out of the room.

"Good girl Georgia!!" Andy and I both cheered.

Then I looked over at him,

"Damn you!" I said.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"Never mind," I replied annoyed and went back to my bed making.

So yeah, they don't always want to listen to me, but most of the time, not ALL, but most, they will do what HE says. I admit, I will work this to my advantage if I'm having a particularly hard time with them listening by throwing out a,

"Wait until your father gets home!"

Because, let's be honest, what mom hasn't used that line a time or two?